The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1888. Shabby Sportsmen

Feilding Star, Volume IX, Issue 132, 7 June 1888, Page 2

The Feilding Star. THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 1888. Shabby Sportsmen

As a rule when a person is spoken of as a keen sportsmen he is put down as a good all round man, incapable of a mean or ungenerous action, a staunch supporter of the game laws, and a determined enemy to all poachers. Admitting 1 these characteristics to be i truly stated, it is with sorrow, not ! | uniningled with shame, tbat. we are forced into the admission that we ' have, in the district ruled and governed by the Manchester aud Kiwi tea

Acclimatisation Society, a great number of men who would like to be denominated or known as sportsmen, but who are— not to put too fine a point upon it — neither more nor less than " rascally poachers." Taking advantage of that fatal weakness which tempted the Government to relieve themselves of a worry by removing the restrictions against hares, and so making them no longer "game," these men have been shooting over every part of the district, not only hares, but all protected feathered game, without first providing themselves with the necessary license. It may be said the rangers should look out for these characters and take the necessary legal steps to prosecute and j have them punished for their offences, i No doubt this ought to be done and possibly may be, but the fact still remains that men who require to be compelled to pay for their sport through the Resident Magistrate's Court, are very shabby fellows. If the local Acclimatisation Society had been lax in providing means of future sport "for generations yet unborn," as Sir George Grey would say, there might be the shadow of an excuse — if there can be any apology for such paltry spirits — but, on the contrary, they have been most energetic. Nine thousand trout fry hare been put in the local streams, and a sum of £60 expended in Ihe erection of a most useful and efficient hatchery. In anticipation that the revenue of the Society this year would equal that of the preceding one. certain liabilities have been \mcurred which must be liquidated shortly, and, as the number of licenses taken out falls considerably short of that which was expected, unless those persons who have been shooting without licenses repent — although at the eleventh hour— and pay up, the mem bers of the Committee of Management will have to make up the required amount from their private resources. We hope and trust this appeal will have the desired effect, and that many " rascally poachers" will in conse- j quence qualify for "respectable sportsmen."